The architect redesigning the chalets of the Alps

The encounter

The studio is set up in a former barn, at the entrance of a hamlet the main road ignores. The walls are exposed stone, the roof in lauze slabs. But inside, everything is light: a vast bay window opens onto the peaks, and the models lined up on the tables tell a singular vision of the mountain.

The architect has been working in this territory for fifteen years, between Megève and Courchevel. His obsession: reconciling the heritage of Savoyard construction with the expectations of a contemporary clientele seeking light, openness and invisible technology.

The philosophy

"A chalet is not a stage set, it is a shelter. It must protect from the cold, welcome the light, age with grace." The phrase recurs often, like a mantra. On the plans spread before us, the lines are clean but never cold. Wood is everywhere — aged spruce, raw larch, smoked oak — but used with a restraint that makes it almost sculptural.

The openings are generous, calculated to frame a summit, a tree, an angle of light at a precise hour of the day. "The window is the most important painting in the house. It changes with every season, every hour."

The detail

What strikes you in each project is the attention paid to invisible details:

• The way a staircase turns to reveal the view gradually.
• The choice of a patinated bronze door handle rather than stainless steel.
• The exact thickness of a dry-stone wall, calculated so the thermal mass naturally regulates the indoor temperature.

"Luxury is not in the surface or the price of materials. It is in rightness. A space is luxurious when you feel good in it without being able to explain why."

The legacy

Leaving the studio, you look at the mountains differently. The traditional chalets dotting the high pastures are no longer postcard clichés. They are answers, refined over centuries, to fundamental questions: how to inhabit a hostile place, how to turn constraint into beauty.

The architect knows it. His work is not to reinvent, but to continue. To write the next chapter of a story that began long before us, and will continue long after. It is this same exactingness found in the chalets of our collection, in Megève as in Courchevel.

Frequently asked questions

What sets an architect-designed chalet apart?

The rightness of the volumes, the quality of the materials and the framing of the views. Comfort is considered in every detail, without ostentation.

Are your chalets designed by architects?

Our collection favours signature chalets where Savoyard tradition and contemporary design answer each other. Each property is selected for its exactingness.

Can these chalets be visited?

Our concierge arranges stays in our Megève and Courchevel chalets, with all associated services.